Channel V Media - Albert Technologies Campaign

Company: Channel V Media, New York, NY, USACompany Description: Since 2008, companies have relied on Channel V Media to bring their behind-the-scenes culture, insights and innovation to the front of the scenes, and appeal to the media and industries they serve. We’ve propelled a number of virtually unknown companies into the mainstream consciousness, and magnified interest in established companies that simply needed to take more credit for their work.Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations CategoriesNomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Technology

Nomination Title: Creating the Most Vocal AI Company in the World

Tell the story about this nominated campaign since 1 January 2017 (up to 650 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms.

When Albert Technologies came to Channel V Media (CVM), the Israeli artificial intelligence company had raised $42M on the London Stock Exchange and sought to extend its presence into the U.S.

There were only a few problems with their plan: 1) They were a known quantity in Israel but no one had heard about them in the U.S. 2) Companies like Salesforce and Oracle were rumored to be introducing artificial intelligence solutions with the potential to overshadow Albert’s news. 3) The company’s CEO was dead-set on getting Albert to market first, ahead of these large competitors.4) Albert wasn’t just an unfamiliar technology, “he” was an unknown brand. And 5) the media and public didn’t know much about artificial intelligence—and what they did know was very much shaped by popular culture depictions of machines taking over the world.

From August to December 2016, Channel V Media led and executed the strategy that not only got Albert to market before anyone else, but allowed them to use their spotlight to begin defining the AI message for Al companies who would enter the space to come.

In 2017, the public relations strategy transformed from introducing an AI to an industry that wasn’t quite ready for it to driving demand and adoption for a product that was still much perceived as a risky, unknown and scary.

CVM developed a four-tier strategy: educate the industry, secure market validation, make Albert one of the most highly visible AI platforms in the world, and transcend the marketing conversation to gain broader relevance among established business technologies.

From the offset, brands and agencies feared that AI would take their jobs, and actively opposed emerging AI technologies. In order to educate these prospective users on what AI is and how it could be applied to marketing and advertising, CVM began creating opportunities for journalist and analysts–and by association, their readers–to see Albert at work. CVM set up product demos with national news and trade outlets, securing briefings with outlets such as the New York Times, CNBC, Harvard Business Review, TechCrunch, Adweek, AdExchanger, Marketing Land, digiday, DMN, eMarketer and many others.

To expand Albert’s relevance beyond marketing, CVM devised a strategy to associate Albert with two other game-changing AI powerhouses: IBM’s Watson and Salesforce’s Einstein. Because IBM and Salesforce were known quantities and media were now able to connect Albert to other mainstream applications of AI, the media floodgates opened and Albert quickly became vital to the AI conversation with a total of 142 media placements in 2017 alone. Albert is now one of the most highly covered and visible autonomous technologies on the planet.

Next, CVM diversified Albert’s message to transcend the marketing function and instead focus on the many industries it serves: retail, automotive, home goods, and telecommunications.

As a direct result of CVM’s work to validate Albert in the market by offering insight into its work with major U.S. and global brands, Albert’s inbound business leads have skyrocketed. Just one article about Albert’s work with Harley-Davidson published in Harvard Business Review produced over 2,000 leads, while a single article about Albert’s work with retailer Cosabella in Campaign Magazine brought in 500 leads. A strategically placed article in Furniture Today led to a partnership between Albert and Kohl’s. Several other big name brands have come inbound as well, including Nestle, Gallery Furniture, Natori, Dole, US Wellness Meats and many more. Albert now relies 100% on CVM’s work with its small marketing team to generate the entirety of its leads.

This success has continued into2018 andCVM has placed over 69 articles including a second HBR article, a syndicated report on CNBC of twoAlbertclient case studies. Presently focusedon executing anew strategy to expand Albert's dominance in the retail space.

In bullet-list form, briefly summarize up to ten (10) of the chief features and results of this nominated PR program since the beginning of 2017 (up to 150 words).